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Michael Ryan Unable To Find An Answer For Tipperary’s Performance

Thursday, 27 April 2017

TIPPERARY manager Michael Ryan could find no answer as to why his team failed and failed miserably to beat Galway in last Sunday's Allianz Hurling final at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick last Sunday. He was lost for words saying it was the worst performance by the team since he took over as manager. He insisted that the suspension hanging over Jason Forde did not have an impact on the team either, before expressing concern about the players' club schedule over the next two weeks and adding that his team needed rest after playing eight strong league games in a ten week period. 'I cannot explain where it all went wrong,' said Ryan as he met the press outside the entrance to the tunnel leading to his team's dressing rooms. 'That was a complete non show from us. We certainly were not prepared for that kind of performance. It was the worst performance in the length of time I have had these boys. It's very disappointing, in a national final, that we chose today to have one of those games,' said the Tipp manager. Ryan added that his team were well prepared and his team had trained well in the days leading up to the game. 'We will look back and examine what happened but nothing out of the order to us since the last day. We were just flat compared to Galway who gave a sterling performance and showed all the right attributes of hunger, passion and were deserving winners by a country mile,' said Ryan.Tipperary were not up to the race in any area of the field leaving a number of question marks about the side. 'I have been involved in games like this. I have played in games like this myself. It's not nice. It will hurt nobody more than our players. It's done and that is all I can say about it now.' Questioned if the result signalled the start of the All-Ireland championship, Ryan responded that the race for the All-Ireland championship began last September. 'I referenced that after last year's All-Ireland final. Look we fully expected Galway to be a quality opposition. There is no secret there. We must lay our plans for the championship when we play Cork in Thurles. We have a four week turn around. The league is run. We had an eight game run in ten weeks. It's fairly intense. These are amateur players and they deserve a huge amount of credit. 'That comes on the day of a final when there is silverware on offer. It is what it is. We played eight high calibre games in ten weeks and as far as I am concerned it has certainly taken its toll on the players,' said Ryan. Not alone did Tipp play eight games in ten weeks there is to follow a round of the county championship followed by a round of the North senior championship while some clubs will have senior club football championship as well. In other words a lot of club fare leading into the Munster championship encounter with Cork?'It's not ideal from our perspective. These guys are not machines. We had certainly laid our plans on winning today and taking a rest for the next week. We will still follow that plan. It is a real concern in terms of the workload that is expected from them. The county championship at home is huge. The North championship is huge the following week and there is also a number of games in county football in there. It's not an ideal preparation. It will give us thirteen days from this day fortnight to the Cork game. It is a concern of ours and we will be pressing that view with our County Board. This group needs to be protected as well.'Did the suspension hanging over Jason Forde have an impact on both him and the team's performance? 'Honestly none in my mind. We just explained exactly where it was at. The charge had been made and we would deal with it on Monday morning and that is still the case. I certainly heard no chitchat about it so I don't think it derailed us in any way shape or form. It is going to give us plenty to exercise our minds but not today,' said Michael. Ryan added 'Could it possibly be on his (Jason Forde's) mind? Of course it could. It would be on mine if I was in his shoes. It is not nice to have any accusation hanging over you. These guys simply just want to play hurling. The seriousness of any two match ban is horrendous to be honest.'Was Ryan surprised when word came through on last Wednesday of the suspension? 'Beyond surprise. Beyond surprise,' exclaimed the Tipp manager. 'But it's on our doorstep. We have to deal with it. There is a process there to deal with it. Balance and fairness will be the order of the day when we make our case to Croke Park. I certainly didn't think there was anything in it. There was an awful lot more challenges within the lines today and we don't even look at them. It is just unfortunate. It's an incident that shouldn't have happened in the first place. I am hopeful because on the reason of balance and fairness the punishment does not fit the crime on my opinion.'